Forever Changed
by Beelzebub X
Summary: A three part somewhat sad story focusing on Beast Boy. Beast Boy is on a undercover spy mission when something goes horribly wrong. The third and final part just went up.
1. Part I

**Author's Note:** This was quite a random act that caused me to write this story. I was reading the short story _The Metamorphosis_ by Franz Kafka in Literature class, and it got me to thinking, "That sounds an awful lot like something I would write." Then, the more I thought about it, I got to "Why not?" It seemed like Beast Boy from Teen Titans was the perfect candidate for the story. While at first the idea I had for the fanfic was very similar to the story _The Metamorphosis_, I made many changes to the story as the plot developed in my head. So now it is not based on _The Metamorphosis_, but rather just inspired by it. This is a three part story, I hope you enjoy it. Please review.

**Edit: **I'd like to thank a pair of people for helping me notice two very important things. Thank you Dragonic Darkness for reminding me that Beast Boy's transformations are always green. And thank you Hieibandit for telling me that my punctuation glitched. I checked the original and I did have commas and spaces before the quotation marks, but for some reason, they vanished when I uploaded the story. I fixed that now. I don't know why it happened.

**Edit2: **Wow, the punctuation problem was worse than I thought. What is really strange is that there are two types of quotation marks in this story, " " and " ", and I have no idea why. I would greatly appreciate if anyone could explain it to me.

**Forever Changed: Part I**

Electricity coursed through his body. Beast Boy tried to scream, but his form wouldn't allow it. All that passed his lips was an inhuman cry of pain. Every inch of his being screamed for it to end. He thought he could smell the scent of his very flesh cooking mingling with the horrid stench of burnt fur. Then everything went black.

He had been on a reconnaissance mission. The Titans had reason to believe that Slade had created a hidden base in the woods north of the city where he was building a new super weapon. It had been Beast Boy's job to take the form of an animal and try to secretly find out where the it was located. Apparently, there was something hidden out there, because he had fallen into a booby trap. He never saw the thin micro fiber stretched between two trees. That tiny metal thread had enough electrical current running through it to easily kill a human. Lucky for Beast Boy, he was more than human; he was an animal. But the electricity had fried his Titan communicator. As a result, it was many hours that he laid unconscious in the woods before the Titans were able to recover his barely alive body.

* * *

"I think he's coming to." 

Beast Boy moaned, trying to think through the pounding in his head. He opened one eye and quickly closed it to the spinning world around him.

"Oh I am so glad that Beast Boy is the better." He felt a hand gently stroke the fur around his neck. He sighed. He could change back in a minute, this felt so good.

"Yo BB, you've been out cold for several days."

"Why don't you change back? I think I deserve a thank you since I was the one who saved your annoying self."

The hand stopped stroking his fur. Beast Boy sighed. It was nice while it lasted. He fought to collect his thoughts together, focusing on bringing his dizziness to an end. He opened his eyes again, this time to a still, non-spinning, world. Around him stood the four of his friends.

It wasn't any sort of chore for Beast Boy to use his unique talent. The power waited, read to answer to any command that touched it. He could touch his power at the speed of thought. Beast Boy now thought of his human form and reached for the power inside of him. He touched where his power resided. There was no tingling feeling running across his body as his form rearranged itself. There was no brief instant of confused senses as they heightened or weakened to compensate for the new body. No power at all. His ability to change shape, his very life blood, always at his beck and call, simply wasn't there.

A moment of confusion was quickly replaced by panic. It had to be there, it couldn't be gone. He raced through his mind and body, scouring every inch , searching for the familiar energy that gave him his power. It was nowhere to be found. The power that he had his whole life and was able to summon as easily as he could blink or take a breath, was completely and absolutely gone.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. All he had to do was focus. Cyborg had said he was unconscious for several days. It was understandable to be a little addled. He needed to stay calm and focused. One last time, slower this time, in denial of what he knew was his new reality, he searched for his power so that he could touch it and become human again. What he feared was true. How could something that he had been able to do since birth just go away? A horrible thought came to him. A person that could see all their life could lose that ability and become blind. A person could lose their sense of sight or hearing. The same thing had happened to him, only, instead of being blind or deaf, the loss of his ability meant that he could never again return to his human form. He was forever trapped in the body of a wolf.

He slowly looked up at his friends, his fellow Titans. They were all holding their breaths. They knew all to well that it was taking Beast Boy far to long to change shape. He couldn't bare to let them wait any longer. Slowly, not certain how they would react to the gesture, he shook his head.

Starfire was on the verge of tears, "Please friend. Stop the joking. It is not funny." She knelt down beside him and resumed stroking his dark grey-green fur reassuringly, "Please, return to your human form. I know you can."

Beast Boy shook his head again, big wolf tears beginning to form in the corner of his eyes. He placed a paw on top of Starfire's free hand near the edge of the bed. How could he make her understand? He wanted more than ever before to return to his human shape.

Robin put his hand on Starfire's shoulder, "I don't think he's playing around. I think he is serious."

"No! He is not. It is not true! Beast Boy, please change shape."

Robin forced Starfire to stand up and face him, "Do you think I want it to be true anymore than you do? But denying it won't change reality. Now stop making it harder for Beast Boy."

Raven took Beast Boy's paw in her hand and stared into hisemerald eyes, trying to understand him. He pulled his paw away and whimpered slightly. Raven nodded, comprehending his meaning, "Would you like to be left alone for a while to think by yourself? To help gather your thoughts"

Beast Boy grinned showing his full set of massive teeth, and even though the effect was something more terrifying than friendly, it's meaning wasn't lost upon Raven. He was so glad that somebody was able to understand him. But what surprised him most was that it was Raven who was able to connect with him despite his animal shell.

For some reason, Raven really sympathized with Beast Boy. She knew what it felt like to be different and to want nothing more than to be alone. She knew that sometimes, being alone was the most important healing tool. That odd sort of kinship, something she had never felt in Beast Boy before, made her really want to defend him. Raven brought her self up to her full height, enhancing herself slightly with the shadows around her, and glared at everyone in the room threateningly, "Beast Boy wants to be alone. Now respect that everyone and get out."

Raven followed the scurrying Titans leaving the room. She looked back at Beast Boy. He looked at her sadly, wanting nothing so much as to say thank you. But the words could not come from his wolf mouth. She smiled and nodded, "You are welcome." Beast Boy stared at the back of her head as she left.

A short distance down the hall, the Titans could hear a mournful howl echo through Titan Tower.


	2. Part II

**Author's Note:** I was just thinking about something. I suppose it doesn't matter too much in this story, but this story takes place shortly after Slade's rebirth. It doesn't matter that much for this fanfic, but it will matter a lot for the sequel. Yes, the sequel. Well, it's not really a sequel so much as a story which just so happens to occur after this one. Yeah, I betcha some people are cheering about this one. Also, Part II of this fanfic is more than twice as long as Part I. Just thought I'd warn you in advance. I think Part III will be somewhere between the two.

**Forever Changed: Part II**

The Titans, minus Beast Boy, were gathered around in the grand living room of the tower, reclining on the couches in assorted positions. Everyone was waiting for somebody else to say something. Finally, Robin spoke up, "So, what are we going to do?"

"What do you mean, 'What do we do?'" Cyborg nearly yelled, "We have to try and get Beast Boy back to normal."

Robin sighed. He really didn't want to be the one the bad guy, but they had to make plans, "What if we can't? I don't mean to be pessimistic, but it's really a long shot to think we can restore his powers. What are we going to do if he is stuck as a wolf forever? I don't want to risk him being harmed, but I think it would be bad for his health to let him stay in tower. He's a wild animal, and needs the outdoors."

Raven stared down at her feet, "I've never really liked Beast Boy very much. I mean, he got on my nerves more than anything else, but still, I don't know. I guess I feel sorry for him."

"We all do Raven, but-"

"No, not like that, let me finish. I've always been alone; my powers are too dangerous for me to ever become to close to people. If I ever got to close to somebody, I might let loose my control on my emotions, and then that person would be dead. I know what it's like to be alienated. Now Beast Boy is going to go through something similar. Nobody can ever hope to understand what is going through his mind right now. He is alone in the world, unable to communicate with his friends. But still, I feel like I am the one most able to understand what is going on for him. We cannot force him to leave."

"I didn't mean that-"

"Let me finish!" She stood up straight, glaring at Robin. Responding to her release of emotion, shadows swirled up around her, the cry of the darkness ringing in the air as it was forced to coexist with the light. Robin stopped talking immediately, as Raven forced herself to calm and sit back down. "And, let's say we let him go, to try and live out the rest of his life as a wolf. You know, let him find a nice wolf pack, and settle down and have a family. It would be a different life, but it wouldn't be so bad."

Raven took a deep breath and continued, "But what if he's not accepted by a pack? What if he is forced to wander alone? Wolves are a social species, and as you know some of the animal's instincts always talk to Beast Boy's mind. If he is left alone, he will be plagued not only by his own sadness, but the sadness of the wolf mind. I would not be surprised if he died of misery.

"Another thing, have we ever seen him speak to an animal when he was transformed? I know I haven't. How can we be sure he even has the ability to communicate with the animal he becomes? He may have some of the animal's instincts, but I know that with humans at least, language is a learned talent. He may not even have to capacity to live with other wolves even if he wanted to.

"I don't know, maybe I'm getting ahead of myself. Maybe Beast Boy could talk with other wolves, and would like to go live a normal wolf life. Maybe he wouldn't. But what I do know is this. We are his friends. We should treat him like a friend, not like some wild animal we can just push around. But we can't treat him like a pet either. Underneath his exterior, he is still the human. He has feelings. We shouldn't be trying to plan what to do with his life. It is his life, he should be able to do with it what he wants. And I think, that as his friends, if he wants to live with us, we should do nothing to discourage it and do everything we can to make him comfortable." She stared at every person in turn, then, satisfied that she had made her point, nodded to Robin to continue.

Robin considered his words carefully, "You have many good points there. But, what if he wants to continue to be a Titan?"

Cyborg spoke up this time, "He's a Titan through and through. We can't just strip him of the title."

"Of course not. What I mean is, what if he wants to continue fighting alongside us?"

Starfire floated over to Robin, "Why can't he? I do not know Earth animals well, but a wolf is a dangerous animal, yes? I think it looks strong."

"It's not that he isn't strong." Robin sighed, this was going to be harder than he thought, "But Beast Boy's strength in battle wasn't the power of the animal that he becomes. Starfire, you are stronger than any creature Beast Boy has ever become. But your power is limited by the ways you can output your power, which are restricted to raw strength and your star-bolts. A foe can become used to the way you fight, and thus be able to defeat you even if you are stronger. A foe can never get used to the way Beast Boy fights, and, if he keeps his head in battle, he can defeat someone stronger than him by outsmarting them. His true strength was the ability to adapt, to keep his foes on the edge by changing shape so that they couldn't easily combat him. His true weapon and his strongest weapon is adaptation, not shape shifting. He can't change in battle anymore, and he is substantially weaker because of it. Do you understand?"

"I think we should give him at least one chance to prove he can still fight. We may need him for when we go fight Slade," Raven said, to which Cyborg and Starfire nodded.

Robin's voice turned angry, "Are you just that willing to risk his life? What if he died out there? He doesn't have the strength anymore that he used to. I don't want to be responsible for his death, but I can't stop all of you. If he is hurt or killed, remember, I said not to let him go. Nobody had better try to blame me for his death. I am washing my hands of any responsibility for his safety as of now. His death will be on your heads, not mine. My conscious is clean."

He paused, took a breath and turned to business, "Cyborg, have you made the necessary adjustments to your optical sensors?"

"Well, it wasn't easy. The forest is strung up with those tiny electrical wires, and combined, they generate massive electromagnetic field blanketing the entire forest. That electromagnetic field completely scrambled my optical sensors. There was absolutely nothing I could do to fix that problem, so I designed a temporary replacement optical sensors. Now, I can not only navigate the forest, but I can now see the electrical current running through the wires, which is very good considering they are so fine that the naked human eye has intense difficulty seeing them. The new optical sensors are not has perfectly tuned as my normal one, so my vision is somewhat impaired outside of this specific purpose, but for what we need now, there is nothing better. You see, the trick to it was-"

"Yes Cyborg, that's enough. We don't need to hear the technical details of how you achieved that feat. So, since you three don't want to listen to my advice when it comes to Beast Boy, maybe you'd like to hear my plans for fighting Slade?" Robin waited angrily to see if anyone was going to object, "I suggest we attack first thing tomorrow morning. Here is what we are going to do..."

* * *

Beast Boy wandered through the halls of the tower. For a while, he had sat in the room, trying to reach for the power even though he knew it wasn't there. Eventually though, he finally told himself anguishing over his loss wasn't going to do any good, and that he really ought to get out and try to get his spirits up. He had struggled with getting the door of the informatory opened; it wasn't easy without thumbs.

What he needed to do most right now was talk to someone, maybe crack a bad joke or two, to help him feel more like normal. Too bad that was one of the things which was made nearly impossible as a wolf. He was effectively mute, able to do little more than bark or use facial expressions and odd wolfish gestures to communicate with people.

He smelled Raven coming long before he saw her. He didn't really want to see her right now, to have her belittle him like she normally did. The kind mood she had been in that had caused her to treat him so nicely before had surely perished by now. But then again, the dark mood which was starting to settle over him wasn't making him exactly care enough to try and avoid her anyway. Maybe he could get along with Raven right now, dark moods were her specialty after all.

Raven stopped when she saw Beast Boy. Slowly, she walked towards him. "Hey, are you feeling a little better?" He shrugged, a gesture which looked odd coming from a wolf. "Not really sure? Would you like somebody to talk to? I'd be more than willing."

How did she know? Beast Boy was simply shocked. Again she seemingly read his mind, knowing what was bothering him most and then responding to it. He stared at her with no real intent to hid it.

She knelt down in front of him, so he could look at her without craning his neck upwards, "No, I can't read your mind. But I can read your face, because I see in your face what I've seen in the mirror everyday of my life. Right now, you are thinking an awful lot like me and it shows. And I know that, if I was in your situation, I would want nothing more than to be able to talk to somebody. Thing is, nobody has ever offered me a simple conversation before when I was feeling lonely. I figured the least I could do was offer it to you."

Raven smiled warmly at him, something Beast Boy had never seen before, "So what do you say?" He nodded back at her, and then she did something unexpected. Raven placed her hands around his head and scratched him behind the ears. He sighed in pleasure; it really did feel wonderful. Beast Boy was somewhat sad when she stopped.

"Why don't you come to my room and meditate with me? There is enough time for a session before dinner. I meditate so that I can help keep my powers under my control. I don't want to get your hopes up, but maybe, just maybe, if you seriously meditate, without joking around, you could reteach yourself to use your powers." Beast Boy didn't think that even Raven believed what she was saying, but he appreciated what she was doing. He followed her, thankful to know that he had a deeper friend in Raven than he had thought previously.

* * *

After their meditation session, thoroughly unsuccessful in reuniting Beast Boy of his power as he had expected, they parted ways. Raven said that she was going to clean up before dinner. She managed, once again, to ask exactly the right questions to figure out that Beast Boy was very hungry, having not eaten in the past few days, and that he intended to go to eat right away.

In the kitchen, Beast Boy scrambled up into a chair and sat at the table awaiting the serving of his food. It was Robin's day to cook, and he was grilling up some steaks. Beast Boy regretted having such a powerful sense of smell. It would be a while before he would be able to get the stench of cooking meat out of his head. He wondered if Robin was making him a tofu steak. It would be a nice treat, something that Beast Boy hadn't had in a long time, but he would be satisfied with practically anything that wasn't meat.

Finally, Robin brought him a plate and sat it down before him. There was a steak smack dab in the middle of it's own juices on the plate. Beast Boy nudged the plate towards Robin with his nose, whimpering slightly.

Robin sighed, "I know you are a vegan Beast Boy, but the wolf isn't. Wolves are carnivores. You can't digest a vegan diet anymore, it would make you horribly sick to try. Even still, the cooked meat is probably going to give you some nasty indigestion, but I couldn't stand to give you the raw meat that your body was designed to eat. It just wouldn't be right. Sorry Beast Boy, it's the only food you will be getting from me."

Beast Boy whimpered as he nudged the plate again. He was so hungry. The wolf inside him had no qualms about eating the meat. He gritted down, trying to ignore the wave of nausea that rushed over him at the thought of what he was going to do. He let himself fall deep into the wolf's mind, let it take over his thoughts. As he did, the meat began to look more and more appealing. He gnawed at the steak with his teeth then bit out a chunk and swallowed it. Somewhere in the back of his head, Beast Boy felt horribly sick as he ate, but he let the wolf continue. Bite by bite, it was all he could do to keep it down. The taste was repulsive to him, and it didn't help that even the wolf itself wasn't too happy about the flavor; it preferred meat that was still bloody. When he had finished, Beast Boy did his best to push out of his mind what he had just done, and let himself be contented with having a full belly.


	3. Part III

**Author's Note:** Okay, let me rant for a minute. Sorry it took so long to get the grand finally to this story finished (though it turned out to be even longer than Part II). You'd think that if I have a five day weekend, I'd be able to get some time to myself to write. Oh no, not at all. My freaking mother has me slave away all weekend doing menial tasks for her. I cannot believe I actually get more writing done on school days then the weekends. It just isn't right! Ahem, rant finished. I'm a horrible ranter.

Anyway, to Lily. I really didn't think it was that odd of Raven to be so supportive of Beast Boy. It really reminded me of the way she was protective of him when Terra started coming around and messing with everything. By the way, I love that name, I really do. I want to name my future daughter Lily. Just decided to declare that to the world.

And everyone, remember to look for the sequel to this story. I think I'm going to call it something like, well, I don't know what I'm going to call it. Just look for it alright? That is, if you still want to keep reading my stuff after you read the ending to this story. Somehow I get the feeling a whole lot of people are going to be very angry at me.

**Forever Changed: Part III**

Early the next morning, the Titans gathered a short distance inside the edge of the forest. The sun was just barely starting to lighten the night sky, but hadn't yet burst over the horizon. The air was thick with a heavy fog that chilled everyone in the cool morning air.

Robin was still sulking, in a horrible mood caused by having his authority undermined. They hadn't even begun the mission yet, and already his attitude was beginning to have a negative down heartening effect on the rest of the Titans.

Cyborg felt that the group needed to have a pep talk in order to raise their spirits, "Alright everyone, this is perhaps the most important battle we are ever going to be in. Today, we have the advantage. Every fight with Slade until now has been on his terms. We always fought when and where he wanted us to. This time, we are taking the fight to him. We are attacking Slade in his home, hopefully catching him off guard. This may be the best chance we will ever have to take Slade out. I know we can do this. But before we go, I need to ask one question." He paused and looked down at Beast Boy, "Are you certain that you want to go with us?"

Beast Boy had been panting in typically canine style, but he quickly took a serious look at being addressed and nodded sternly. This was his chance to continue his life as it was before; Beast Boy wasn't going to screw it up.

Raven knelt down beside him, "Are you sure about this, there won't be another chance to back out later."

"Just let him go," Robin snapped, "You all decided that you are smarter than me, and that you don't need to listen to me as your leader. Since you are in charge now, you need to remember that a leader has to stand strong behind what they say. You decided to let Beast Boy come along, then let him. It was your choice to bring with us a cripple to get caught up in the crossfire. That invalid will be worthless in the fight, and we will have to make the choice between either protecting him and losing the fight, or stopping Slade and letting Beast Boy die. Slade will kill him, I have little doubt. I just hope you are all strong enough to face the horrible reality that your choices will bring about."

A heavy smothering silence set in. The forest was deathly quiet as the blow dealt by Robin's harsh words sunk in. Cyborg coughed and changed the subject, "Alright then. Everyone follow me. A little distance into the forest, the trees become a deathtrap with electrical wires strung between them everywhere. It is a regular maze. I am the only one who can see the electromagnetic fields given off by these nearly invisible wires. So I will lead you through a safe path. Somewhere in the center of this maze, there is a clear spot where the electromagnetic field substantially weakens. I believe that is where Slade's base is. You must follow close behind me, and not stray from the path I set, or you risk getting a nasty, possibly lethal jolt."

He looked around at the Titans, "Is everyone ready?" He received several nods, "Alright. Titans go!" Cyborg shouted.

He began into the woods at a brisk pace, and the other set to following him. When Cyborg was certain that everyone was keeping up, he increased his pace, running a little bit faster. Slowly but surely, the Titan's were running at break neck speed.

Beast Boy leaped through the forest with the greatest of ease. This is what his body was built for, running through the woods. He kept his eyes on the pale blue light radiating from Cyborg's mechanical exterior, but what Beast Boy really focused on was keeping his nose to Cyborg's scent, which was something far easier for him to do.

It wasn't long before they started dashing around wildly from side to side as electric threads suddenly crossed the path they were taking. They zigzagged blindly through the foggy forest in the darkness of the predawn. They could hardly separate the dark shadows of the trees from the rest of the night. It seemed they were never more than inches away from death. It was insanity at it's finest moment. Then suddenly, it all stopped.

Cyborg slowed down to a brisk walk and stopped in front of everyone. He turned and faced the slightly tired crowd behind him, "Okay, we are in the eye of the storm so to speak. For a little ways in all directions, we don't have to worry about any electrical wires. But, I don't see any base."

Beast Boy began sniffing around as the others discussed how the base was probably hidden somewhere or how this might just be some over elaborate booby trap. He ignored them. The faint scent of something had gotten caught in his nose. It was the smell of a human, and not one of his friends. The smell was weak, and the heavy fog all around him didn't help at all in tracing it. He put his nose to the grass and wandered around.

The human wasn't around right now, that much he was certain of, but the scent did have many trails that crisscrossed all around the immediate area. He focused on the strongest branch of the trail, the one that had to be the most recent, and followed it to a large boulder where the scent stopped. Beast Boy paused at the boulder, pawed at it nervously, and barked back at his friends.

They ignored him, so he barked again. Cyborg stopped the others and led them over to where Beast Boy was. He scratched his head, "What is it boy?" Beast Boy looked up at him indignantly at the use of a pet's nickname, but Cyborg didn't seem to notice. He ran his hand along the boulder, "Yes, this would be a good spot to somehow hide a secret entrance to an underground base. Good job. Now, if this is where the entrance is located, then we need to figure out how to open it up."

Raven gently moved Cyborg out of the way, "Let me handle this." She placed both hands to the rock and called the shadows to her, "Azerath Metrion Zinthos!" The boulder was consumed by the darkness that she wielded and it lifted off of the ground. A strange system of metal pistons and mechanical arms underneath the rock that would have normally been used to raise it into the air when some sort of secret switch was triggered were ripped and twisted violently apart. None too gently, Raven tossed the boulder to one side where it splintered through a tree trunk.

Cyborg looked nervously at Raven, "Well... that's one way to do it." He waited until Raven used her power to move all of the sharp sheered metal out of the way, then began to walk down first. There was a short passageway with a few steps leading down to a door. He decided to use his discretion quickly before Raven ripped this apart too. He pushed a button to the side of the door and the door opened, revealing a small elevator shaft.

He looked down and saw that the lift remained unmoving at the bottom. It was obviously operated from the inside, as only Slade would need to go up and down, there would be no need to have remote operation like in a normal elevator. So the lift wouldn't come up and greet them. Not a problem. It only meant that Slade was at home right now. "Come on everyone. Going down?" He took Beast Boy under one arm and grabbed the lift cable with his other hand. He let himself slide down effortlessly. One of the nice things about his robotic hands was that he didn't get rope burn.

Raven and Starfire floated down after them and Robin climbed down the shaft with a little more difficulty than the others. Near the bottom, Robin dropped to the ground. They were awed by the great expanse before them. The room they had fallen into was a massive underground cavernous dome hollowed out from the earth. The only thing that interrupted the space was the elevator shaft coming straight down through the center of the room. Spread out in the room were many odds and ends. There were many potential mechanical weapons of destruction, but predominately there were large supercomputer mainframes. Slade obviously was far more sophisticated than they had ever before imagined.

Cyborg got a strange grin on his face, "So, what do we do? Should we find Slade first, or create a little mayhem and draw him to us?"

Robin sighed, "Since I want to come out of this alive, I suggest you switch over to your infrared sensors and scan the far walls on all sides. It's too dim in here to even see the far walls with our vision, but I still would like to have an idea where Slade will come from if we did start a little mayhem. Look for doors or Slade himself. We want to surprise him, that is our advantage, and I don't want to lose it."

Cyborg's eyes glowed red as he switched visual sensors. He looked around with his enhanced night vision. He pointed in one direction, "Over there are a group of doors. There are no other doors on any other portion of the wall. I don't see Slade anywhere, so I can only assume he is in one of those other rooms. But if we were to try and attack him directly, we would need to pick one of those doors. We are far enough away now that he couldn't hear us, but those doors are so close together that he could probably hear us open one from another of the rooms. I'm not sure we should risk it."

"Then it's settled. We bring him here to us. Even if we have to flee, we'll have destroyed lots of his precious equipment in the process, and that will still be a victory for us." Robin nodded to Cyborg.

"One disaster coming up!" The mechanics in Cyborg's arm whirled as his arm transformed into his trusty laser cannon. Starfire hands glowed green and Raven's body was surrounded by the shadows. Robin pulled out several explosive disks and held them in his hand at ready. Beast Boy, uncertain what he could do, bared his teeth. Everyone stood in a circle, facing in opposite directions, ready to start their rampage.

Robin, despite his earlier irritation, dropped easily into the role of leader again, "Ready? Titans go!" Just as he shouted it, he heard the sound of something hitting the ground behind him. As he turned to face the sound, a hard metal pole bashed him in the face, sending him sprawling across the ground. Several explosions happened around him as he lost his grip on his disks.

The bone sickening crunch from the impact had the other Titans immediately change the direction of their attack. One by one, almost simultaneously, they all suffered a similar attack before they could even see their attacker.

Slade stood between the scattered Titans, metal bo-staff gripped tightly in one hand. If it was possible, he looked more angry he normally was.

Robin coughed and tasted blood on his lips from the horrible attack he had just taken. He managed out one word as he stood up, pulling loose his own bo-staff as he did, "How?"

Slade keeping his weapon at ready, didn't bother facing Robin, "How dare you invade the sanctity of my home? You have gotten sloppy my old apprentice. Did you honestly believe that the electrified forest was the only security measures I had? When you ripped open my front door and went down the elevator shaft, you triggered several silent alarms. I was ready and waiting for you long before you even touched ground inside."

All of the Titans were now standing in a circle around him, ready for the attack. They couldn't help but think to themselves that it wasn't like Slade to be this cocky. He'd never let them all take him on at once unless he had something up his sleeve. Fire raced down Slade's bo-staff, "Are you ready to die Titans?"

Starfire attacked first, rising high into the air as she flung star-bolts at Slade as fast as she could. He blocked every single green energy orb with his staff as he spun it to meet her attack effortlessly. Raven grabbed a nearby computer mainframe with her power and sent it rushing towards Slade while he was preoccupied. Cyborg shot his sonic cannon at the supercomputer just as it reached Slade, causing it to explode directly on top of him. Robin took the opportunity to throw a dozen or so freeze disks at where Slade was.

For a moment, there was no sound except for the crackling of the fire caused by the explosion. Starfire landed back on the ground, "Did we do it?"

Robin scolded her, "Don't get to confident now. We need to be certain the job was finished. Attack mercilessly."

Starfire and Cyborg continued to batter the flaming crater where Slade had been while Raven slammed one heavy object after another onto what she hoped would be Slade's broken body. After a few moments, they took a breather.

Cyborg looked pleased with himself, "I think that ought to have done it. No human could have lived through that."

With a crackling sound, a wall of flame rushed forth in all directions from the center of the crater. It hit the Titans directly, and slammed them into the closest object behind them.

Raven gasped in the fiery air, "No... how can he still be alive?"

Slade stepped forth towards Raven as he sent wave after wave of flames into the battered bodies of the other Titans. "I am more than human now. But, like I said last time we met. I want you to be my new apprentice now. So be glad I'm going to spare you, but your friends won't be so lucky." He held her back to one of the large computers with a wall of heat, not strong enough to burn her, but more than enough to keep her immobilized and unable to use her own power. Slade gripped her jaw in his hand, "I really am fascinated by what your power can do, my new apprentice."

Raven's eyes didn't meet Slade's, instead, they focused on a shadow coming up behind him. She could hear his nails clicking on the cold stone floor as he ran. She cried out, "No, don't do it!"

Slade turned to meet the new threat as Beast Boy bit down hard around his throat. He stumbled backwards and lost his control over the flame walls holding down the other Titans. Beast Boy gripped tight onto Slade, determined not to let go. Flames surrounded Slade, burning him badly, but he had Slade in a death hold. Slade tried to breath, but only succeeded in helping Beast Boy get a deeper bite on his neck.

Fresh warm blood gushed into his mouth, the blood of Slade, and Beast Boy nearly vomited. He loosened his hold just enough. Slade grabbed him around his rear leg, yanked him off, swung him through the air. He slammed Beast Boy's body into the ground, his fist burning tightly into Beast Boy's leg, "You irritating little pest."

Beast Boy was again pulled up into the air as he hung helplessly from Slade's grip like a rag doll. Intense heat enveloped him as Slade focused all of his fire energy into his hand. Instantly, all of the soft tissue, flesh and muscle, under Slade's grip burned away into ashes. He felt Slade's gauntleted hand around the bone. The pain was unbearable. Once again, Slade pitched Beast Boy wildly around, and suddenly, the pressure around Beast Boy's leg was gone as he sailed into through the air, free of Slade's grip. Something hard hit him in his back, stopping his flight as he fell to the ground.

The pain threatened to consume Beast Boy. His vision was turning red. Nausia rushed through him. Even still, he could make out the pool of blood spreading under his body. It was odd, that the nice blood was actually soothing the intense burns on the part of his body that was lying on the ground. He coughed up more blood to add to the mix. Slowly, despite fighting against it, his vision turned began to change from red to black. He felt someone's arms cradle his body against theirs as he succumbed to the darkness.

* * *

Once again, Beast Boy awakened to a pounding head in the infirmary of Titan Tower. He didn't want to open his eyes. As long as he kept them closed, he could pretend the whole thing was a dream. That he had never lost his power. He felt a tear roll down his cheek as he touched at his power to see if such a thing could be true. It was a false hope. There was nothing there. 

He sighed and looked at the world around him. This time, the only one beside his bed was Cyborg. The room was trashed. There were large gashes in the walls of the room, and much of the medical equipment had been ruined by similar cuts. Beast Boy looked at Cyborg curiously.

He didn't catch what Beast Boy was wanting to know, "Well, you are awake finally. When you fall unconscious, you really go all out!" He laughed weakly at his humorless joke, "Another few days of barely being alive."

Beast Boy couldn't help but notice that Cyborg was carefully averting his gaze, never looking directly at him. He wondered why. "Just let me know if you need anything. And," Cyborg paused, before sadly continued, "I'm sorry about what happened."

Beast Boy puzzled over this. As he lay on his side, he awkwardly tried to look down the rest of his body, and then he saw it. Around his hind leg, many bandages were wrapped. That wasn't the part that terrified him. The leg just ended abruptly a little bit above where the knee should have been.

"We couldn't do anything to fix it. If it had been broken, or even ripped off, we could have fixed it. Slade melted clean through the bone. There was nothing anyone could do to be able to fix it. The bone just ends several inches above where it should.

"You should thank Raven. She saved you. We were all being trashed as we tried to flee, but Raven went back to get you. She took you in her arms and carried you through the wall and back to the tower using that shadow phasing power of hers. When we managed to get away, we had thought that both of you had been killed. We were certainly surprised when we got to the tower to find her doing her best to tend to your body. She's now locked herself in an empty room three doors down the hall if you want to find her."

Cyborg stood up and said as he was leaving, "Like I said before, just let me know if you need anything.?

Beast Boy needed to go see Raven. He needed to talk to her in that strange way they had of communicating. Slowly and carefully, he twisted around and lifted his body off of the bed. Standing on three legs, he leapt down to the ground, slipping on the floor, but he righted himself and hobbled out of the room and down the hall. He stopped outside of the room Cyborg had specified and scratched at the base of the door. Not getting a response, he barked once.

He waited, and was just about to leave, when Raven opened the door. Her face was tearstained, something that Beast Boy had never seen before. She knelt down in front of him and spoke in a calm voice, "I'm sorry Beast Boy, it's all my fault. I was the one that convinced Robin to let you go with us. It's because of me you were hurt."

She rose and walked back into the room, beckoning Beast Boy to follow. He paused nervously upon entering, seeing the same wide gouges in the walls as in the infirmary. She noticed his hesitation, "You are wondering what is with the walls right?" She sighed and sat down in the center of the room and gestured for Beast Boy to come close to her. He limped towards her and lay down at her crossed feet and placed his head on her lap. She pet his head gently.

"As you know, my power is controlled by my emotion. In the infirmary, I lost control of my emotion. I wept for what I had done to you. I ripped apart the room before I was able to get it under control again. Luckily you weren't hurt any worse than you already were hurt." She sighed, "It's been my belief that if I ever gained absolute control over my emotions, I would be able to absolutely control my powers. I would never have to meditate again. I would be free. Now I realize I will always be a slave to my powers.

"If I had been able to control myself, not feel sadness for what I had done, then I think I would have been in absolute control over my emotions. But, I realized that if I did not weep for you, then I would no longer be human. Not in the same way you are no longer human. You still have your humanity, a soul. I would have been a soulless shell, far worse off then you. I would have been transformed into something that I don't want to be. And thus I locked myself in this room and cried. I let my power thrash about unchecked.

"You don't have to worry, you are safe. I have control of my emotions again. It's a miserable thing to be what I am. Do you know that I can never love anyone? If I was to fall in love, that emotion would kill the very object of that affection. It's a curse that I will always have to live with.

"I suppose I should thank you, because you have taught me something. You have taught me that it was foolish to try and completely control my emotions, to erase all feelings from my mind. I think it was good to learn early in my life that I can never hope to control my powers that way. Now maybe I can look to some other manner of restraint. I can dream of another future.

"Be glad Beast Boy. For despite all that curses both of us, we still can claim victory. We will always have our humanity, and we will make sure that the other never loses it."


End file.
